


Irresponsible Necromancy as a Coming-of-Age

by faedemon



Series: faedemon's Ectober Week 2020 [5]
Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Ghosts, Canon Jewish Character, Community Service, Danny is a Witch, Ectober (Danny Phantom), Ectober Week 2020 (Danny Phantom), Gen, Necromancy, Religious Themes, Sam's Jewishness, Tucker is Christian, instead of the fentons being ghost hunters they are pagans, whats a little necromancy between friends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-29
Updated: 2020-10-29
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:15:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 950
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27267823
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/faedemon/pseuds/faedemon
Summary: “We can raise a few friends to help us out!” Danny says cheerily.“Danny, irresponsible necromancy is how we were assigned community service in the first place,” Sam deadpans.
Relationships: Danny Fenton & Tucker Foley & Sam Manson
Series: faedemon's Ectober Week 2020 [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1985162
Comments: 15
Kudos: 53





	Irresponsible Necromancy as a Coming-of-Age

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for Ectober Week 2020 Day 5: Orb/ **Reanimation** and can be found crossposted on [FFN](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13731830/1/Irresponsible-Necromancy-as-a-Coming-of-Age) and [Tumblr.](https://moipale.tumblr.com/post/633338235214577664/irresponsible-necromancy-as-a-coming-of-age)

“I’m not doing all of this,” Tucker says flatly, looking out over the graveyard.

“Yeah, I don’t fuckin’ think so,” Danny agrees solemnly.

It’s mid-November, and the three of them are bundled up, gazing out over Amity Park’s smaller cemetery. The place is _covered_ with leaves, all its beautiful maples having shed at once, and as community service, Danny, Sam, and Tucker have been tasked to rake it all up.

“It’s not like we’re getting out of it,” Sam says, ever the responsible one. “Come on.” She gives them both a look, which the boys would normally cower at, but Danny is too busy giving the dirt an appraising lick.

“Oh, dude, what the fuck?” Tucker asks, gazing down at Danny, who is rubbing dirt between his fingers, his tongue still half-stuck out. Sam, meanwhile, is already giving Danny a warning glance, akin to the ones reserved for cats when they’re near a fragile object on a raised surface.

“I was a little worried that this place would be too new, but whatever fucked up things my parents have done to Amity’s energy seems to have accelerated the process,” Danny muses, mostly to himself. After a moment he straightens up, and then shoots a cheery look at his friends, deliberately ignoring Sam’s expression. “We can raise a few friends to help us out!”

“Danny, irresponsible necromancy is how we were assigned community service in the first place,” Sam deadpans.

“That was _different_ , okay? We didn’t know exactly what we were doing.” When Sam’s raised eyebrow doesn’t fall, he sighs. “Listen, I know how to ask the dead for help, alright? I do it all the time.”

Tucker and Sam share their signature _I-am-so-tired-of-pagans_ glance, to which Danny splutters indignantly, but before he can keep arguing his point, Tucker throws up his hands.

“Whatever, dude! Just do it when it gets dark, alright? I don’t want my parents to walk by and have your _sinful behavior_ give Mom a heart attack,” he says, the emphasis on ‘sinful behavior’ having as close as one can get to verbal air quotes. “Or, for that matter, any of our wonderful government officials who have already seen us in a compromising position with human remains.”

Danny turns to Sam. “Well?”

She gives him a look, but sighs, uncrossing her arms. “I’m not going to stop you.”

“Yes!” Danny pumps a fist in the air. “Alright, you guys can get started, I’m gonna run home and grab my ritual bag. Be back in a sec!” And before they know it, he’s sprinting down the path out of the graveyard.

“You know, if my pastor knew that one of my best friends was Jewish and the other was a witch, I think he’d have a heart attack,” Tucker says flatly, turning away from where Danny had disappeared. “There should have been a Sunday school lesson on this: _what to do when you find out your favorite people in the world are heathens_.”

“There is,” Sam says, “it’s where every Christian learns to start pressuring the people around them to convert.”

“Even if I wanted to convert you guys, it would take a literal miracle from God to get any of us to budge on our beliefs.” Tucker walks over to the nearby gate, where three rakes and a roll of trash bags had been left for them. One of the rakes is distinctly shorter than the others, and at the sight of it, Tucker and Sam share a glance, unanimously deciding to leave the stumpy one for Danny.

He comes barreling back into the graveyard about ten minutes later, a satchel brimming with ritual tools, herbs, incense, and whatever else he drags around slung over his shoulder. He gives his friends cheeky grin, and in return, Tucker sticks his tongue out at him and Sam flips him off. Danny takes up his short rake with a wrinkled brow, and the three of them go on with gathering leaves, steadily working their way across the yard, until the sun begins to fall and the town quiets.

“Ready?” Danny asks, grinning. His family is one of eclectic witches, all of them straying toward different magics, but their collective origin is with spirit work. Not necromancy, Jack and Maddie like to insist—there’s a heavy connotation that comes with the word—but Danny calls it that anyway, an affection in his tone that Sam and Tucker have never been quite able to understand.

“Go nuts, dude,” Tucker says, and he and Sam both lean on their rakes to watch. 

It’s always fascinating to see each other go about their little rituals. Danny and Tucker had been invited to Sam’s Passover Seder one year, and though they did not know enough to participate in full, the energy of the room throughout the meal was unlike anything they had ever felt. Tucker has dragged them both to the Sunday service after sleepovers on occasion, and Danny and Sam couldn’t _not_ appreciate the quiet dignity of the space. And Danny’s practice has always been a sight to behold for his two friends, for his observance has always held so much _feeling_ , deep and real.

Danny picks his way over to the center of the cemetery, careful not to step directly onto any of the graves. From afar, Sam and Tucker watch him arrange ingredients they can’t quite make out, and then cast a circle around his workspace, with himself inside.

 _The breath is important when it comes to spirits,_ he’s told them before, and they watch him now as he slows his breathing, taking one deliberate inhale, then blowing it back out.

Even from here, they can feel the energy begin to rise.

**Author's Note:**

> hmm. i wouldn't consider this fic particularly finished, but i will have no time to work on it later today and frankly i'm not sure where to take this fic beyond the point where it ends. this was meant to be an exploratory thing, partially because i wanted to acknowledge sam's jewishness more often in my fics, and partially because i wanted to explore the dynamics between characters with markedly different beliefs
> 
> also, on danny being a witch--obviously irl witches cannot Literally Raise The Dead. i still wanted him to have more in common with modern witchcraft than like. harry potter magic though, so. that's where i stand on that front
> 
> anyway. if you liked this, please leave a comment! i kissa you on da cheek. + if you want to chat, you can find me on tumblr at my main blog [faedemon](https://faedemon.tumblr.com/) or my sideblog [moipale](https://moipale.tumblr.com/)!!


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